Croatia tops U.S. in Davis Cup play
CARSON, Calif. – The United States remains in a Davis Cup slump.
Ivan Ljubicic beat Andy Roddick in a taut, five-set marathon Sunday to give Croatia an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the opening-round Davis Cup matches.
Playing iron man for his country, Ljubicic outlasted Roddick 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11), 6-7 (7), 6-2 in a match that lasted almost 4 hours.
“It’s tough to describe. Really, really bad,” a dejected Roddick said. “There’s no worse feeling than losing a match in Davis Cup in our sport, especially when your teammates are counting on you. There’s so many people that you’re playing for and that you feel like you’ve let down.”
The final singles match was reduced to essentially an exhibition since Croatia had clinched the round. Andre Agassi was scheduled to play Mario Ancic, but doubles specialist Bob Bryan filled in for the United States and beat Roko Karanusic 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
The 25-year-old Ljubicic began the round with a straight-set win over Agassi, then teamed with Ancic to hand Bob Bryan and his twin brother, Mike, their first Davis Cup loss in six matches.
Ljubicic also played and won three first-round matches in 2003 in Zagreb when Croatia eliminated the United States.
The Americans, who lost to Spain in the finals last year, have won the Cup 31 times, but haven’t taken it since 1995. The drought is their longest in 68 years.
The 34-year-old Agassi rejoined the U.S. team to try to help end the winless streak, but he lost his only match, to Ljubicic in Friday’s opening singles. Roddick beat Ancic in four sets in their match the first day.
Both Roddick and Ljubicic played extremely well in their exciting match, with Roddick’s serves reaching as high as 152 mph. But Ljubicic was able to punch back some of the powerful first serves, and he pounced on Roddick’s 73 second serves to win 41 points.
After winning the fourth-set tiebreaker, Roddick immediately lost his serve in the opening game of the fifth set. Ljubicic broke through again in the fifth game to take clear control.
Croatia moves on to the quarterfinals against Romania, which defeated Belarus in the first round.
At Strasbourg, France, Paul-Henri Mathieu blew three match points before finally outlasting gritty Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 of Sweden to clinch a 3-2 victory for France.
At Moscow, Australian Open champion Marat Safin beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4 to send Russia to a 4-1 win over Chile and into the quarterfinals. Russia will play France in July.
At Brasov, Romania, Victor Hanescu beat Vladimir Voltchkov 7-6 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (6) to put Romania into the quarterfinals, as Romania defeated Belarus 3-2.
At Buenos Aires, Argentina, Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Coria easily won to help Argentina sweep the Czech Republic 5-0.
At Sydney, Australia, Todd Woodbridge and Chris Guccione both won singles matches to complete a 5-0 sweep over Austria. Australia will face Argentina in Sydney in the quarterfinals July 15-17.
At Fribourg, Switzerland, Sjeng Schalken defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 to move the Netherlands into the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over Switzerland.
At Bratislava, Slovakia, Slovakia defeated Spain 4-1 behind Fernando Verdasco’s 6-2, 6-4 win over Kamil Capkovic. Slovakia will face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.